The Icarus Project
by Gray95
Summary: AU beginning at the end of 'Last of the Time Lords'. What if Jack had said yes? This story is rated 'T' if you feel this is not appropriate please let me know and I will alter it
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"I really don't mind though, come with me?" Jack smiled at the words and turned to look at the slab that would take him to the base. A year previously he would have jumped at the chance and left Torchwood and everything he had in the 21st century behind in a second, but he'd had time to think over the past year-thinking and dying were the only things he'd had time to do-and he'd spent most of that time thinking about his team, hoping and praying they were alright, wishing he could have a second chance and do things properly. Now he could. The Master had given him that chance, in a sick, twisted way he had done something good. There were few good things about that year and Jack knew that the survivors had to remember those that they could find or they would go insane. He would go back to his team a changed man and he would be better.

"I..." He couldn't quite bring himself to say the words. He had changed, maybe for the better, but the point was, he had changed and his team wouldn't be able to understand that. They would never know what he had been through, they could never know and he didn't think he could bring himself to lie to them again.

The Doctor twitched slightly at Jack's hesitation, he had thought the Captain would agree straight away and now he wasn't quite as sure this was a good idea. After what he had said to Jack in the radiation chamber their relationship had changed a lot, but Jack had to know he didn't feel the same way anymore. A year of watching him getting slaughtered had changed the Doctor's priorities significantly. "You don't have to, not if you don't want to." He had hoped the desperation he felt hadn't entered his voice, but when Jack quickly turned to look at him he realised that he probably hadn't been successful. Jack raised his eyebrow, silently asking the Doctor if he wanted him to, the Time Lord smiled shyly.

Jack looked back at the hub, then back to the Doctor again. "I need to sort out a few things first, if that's alright?" The Doctor grinned and nodded. "I'll be about three hours, see you then?" The Doctor nodded again and pointed to the TARDIS.

"We'll still be here." Martha smirked at the excitement in the Doctors voice, she watched Jack walk away until he was out of hearing range and leaned over to whisper in the Time Lords ear.

"You fancy him, don't you?" Jack didn't hear Martha's words, but he did hear the Doctor's indignant squawk, he looked over his shoulder in time to see the Doctor shove his hands into his pockets and Martha nearly bent double with laughter. He grinned, he hadn't been sure, but now he knew he'd made the right choice.

The hub was empty, Jack sighed with relief this would make things a lot easier, he had no idea what he would have said if he'd been confronted by Ianto or Gwen. He walked towards Toshiko's workstation, the computer hadn't switched itself off which meant he had missed them by ten minutes at most, the screen showed that they were on a weevil hunt. He would have less than an hour to get out if he didn't want to bump into them. He ran up the steps into his office, it was exactly how he had left it. He smiled then moved quickly down to his bedroom, he had thought it would be the same as he'd left it as well, but it seemed different-only little things-a shirt over the back of his chair that hadn't been there before, the sheets tucked in neatly, the bathroom door shut. He picked up a pillow off the bed and pushed it to his nose, breathing in the scent, it no longer smelled of his own pheromones, it smelled of Ianto. Jack sighed into the pillow, his eyes stinging with tears. He picked up the shirt, it smelt like Ianto too. The Welshman had slept in his shirt. The Doctor had clearly brought him back a bit later than intended, Jack chuckled, he shouldn't have expected anything else.

The Captain pulled out a bag out from under the bed and started packing things from his wardrobe into it. He hesitated for a moment before putting his shirt back over the chair for Ianto. He looked at his vortex manipulator; it hadn't taken him as long as he thought. He went up to his office and pulled a pad of paper and a pen from the draw. He didn't know what to write so he settled for 'I'm sorry' and left the note on his bed. Jack walked down to Tosh's workstation and smirked when a thought occurred to him. Nobody had ever retired from Torchwood, but there was a first time for everything. He pulled up his records and changed his position from 'Captain' to 'retired'. He thought for a second then added the contact number for his vortex manipulator, but tagged it as for extreme circumstances only. He knew Gwen would probably want to contact him anyway, but he hoped the others would stop her if she tried.

He checked the time again and ran to the lift. As the lift came to a stop on the surface, Jack watched as the backs of his team walked towards the tourist information centre. He headed towards where the TARDIS had previously been parked. Panic filled him for a moment when he couldn't see her, but after a few deep breaths he reasoned the Doctor wouldn't be so cruel as to convince Jack to travel as the Time Lord's companion just to leave him behind, again. Besides, he thought to himself, there are still things to take care of, she may hate him, but he couldn't leave Alice and Steven to fend for themselves.

Half an hour later Jack returned to find that the TARDIS was still missing, the panic returned, turning his blood to ice. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, he had said he would take three hours and it had only been just over one. He just had to wait, he had waited for over a century he could manage two hours.

Ten minutes later Jack realised something, yes he had waited for a century, but only because he didn't have what he had now: a working vortex manipulator. Thirty seconds later the Captain disappeared with a grin plastered on his face which only grew when he saw a police box with a man in a pinstripe suit leaning on it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Doctor opened the TARDIS door and stepped out, he had half expected Jack to be standing there waiting for him and had to fight the despair when he wasn't reminding himself Jack had things he had to do, responsibilities he couldn't just abandon without a word. The Captain was nothing like him, he had responsibilities he wouldn't run away from and he wouldn't run away from the Doctor either not that he wouldn't understand if he chose to, sure, he would be disappointed and upset to be alone-not just the last of the Time Lords, but on his completely own with nobody to talk to-but he would understand it and he probably deserved it.

He was brought out of his thoughts by high pitched squeal, too high for humans to hear, he knew that sound well and looked up at Jack with a grin on his face. He shook his head in amusement as Jack jogged towards him, "You know I could have waited if you took a bit longer than planned, didn't need to use that." The Doctor nodded towards the vortex manipulator.

Jack smirked as he followed the Doctor into the TARDIS "You might have been willing to wait Doc, but I wasn't." The Time Lord turned to look at him confusion evident in his face, and something else, was that fear? Jack pushed the thought out of his head. "It didn't take as long as I thought, probably because I managed to avoid talking to the team in person. I probably should have waited for them, but I'm a coward." The Doctor covered the distance between the two of them in three strides and rested his hand on the crook of Jack's neck forcing the immortal to meet his eyes.

"Jack Harkness, you are many things, but you are not a coward. You are the bravest man I know." Jack brought his hand up and rested it over the Doctors, sliding his fingers between the Time Lords, he didn't bother trying to reply his heart was racing and he knew anything that came out of his mouth wouldn't be recognisable as the English language. The Doctor hesitated for a minute, staring into Jack's eyes, before he seemed to realise he was still touching the Captain's neck and pulled away quickly, turning to face the TARDIS' console. Jack closed and took in a deep breath; he didn't know how the Doctor could affect him like this, his skin was tingling where his fingers had been. He opened his eyes slowly when he heard the Doctor's voice; the Time Lord was facing the console flicking switches without his usual enthusiasm. "I'm just taking us into the vortex; if we don't go soon we'll have your Torchwood banging on the door-which is something I'm guessing you don't want?" He turned his head for confirmation, Jack shook his head still not trusting himself to speak and silently pleading with his heart to stop pounding in his chest. "Right, well I was thinking a few days in the vortex so we can rest before we start getting in trouble. Again."

"Rest, good idea." Jack raised his hand to his mouth to muffle the yawn that followed. The corners of the Doctor's mouth twitched at the look of surprise on his face.

"Your room should still be here somewhere, I can't imagine the TARDIS deleting it or there are plenty of spare rooms if you don't want your old room. If you need me for anything I'll be here." Jack picked up his bag and walked out the console room, he had lived long enough to know when he was being dismissed and after the 'moment' the Doctor and he had shared, he was glad for some time to think things through. He must have been reading too much into it, there was no way somebody like the Doctor could care for him, just over a year ago the man had told him he was impossible and wrong, that it was hard even looking at him. That couldn't have changed in a year, no matter how long that year had seemed, could it? Jack shook his head, he could run himself in circles when it came to the Doctor, and the truth was he would always reach the same end because there was only one end he wanted to reach. If he had learned anything from the last year it was to never lose hope, maybe the hope that something could happen between him and the Doctor would be all he needed, hope and time-which was something the both of them had plenty of.

A presence entered his mind and Jack paused to stroke the wall, he went to continue walking when the presence became more insistent and he realised he was stood by a door; he nudged it open and smiled. His room looked exactly like he remembered, he stepped in and picked up his cap, he had missed it and it just didn't seem right getting another one like he had with his coat. He ran his fingertips over the bed sheets, so many memories were held in this room. "I swear it used to look worse than this," Jack span around at the sound of the Doctor's voice "but maybe that was because it was a different regeneration, different perspective. This regeneration is probably more comfortable with that sort of thing. Oh, that's a horrifying thought, regenerating made me more like you…" The Time Lord's face contorted in mock disgust as he leaned in the doorway and Jack couldn't help chuckling.

"It was never as bad as you thought; I spread everything out to make it seem worse whenever you came to my room." The Captain grinned at the Doctor's confusion. "The TARDIS told me when you were coming."

"Oh you two would gang up on me." The Doctor pouted, an action which made him look adorable and rather puppyish in Jack's opinion "I'm starting to think she likes you more than me, Captain. Anyway I can see you found your room, I'll be on my way now." He turned to leave the room only pausing when he heard Jack's voice.

"It's not my room anymore Doc. I was a different person back then, this isn't me anymore." The Doctor turned to look at Jack, who had stepped closer to him; their bodies were barely a centimetre apart. The Doctor could feel his hands shaking and quickly clenched them into fists and Jack had to call upon every ounce of his self-control to not jump the Time Lord as he leaned into his ear and whispered "As for the TARDIS, I can't help it if I'm irresistible." It was a far cry from the light flirting from when they had travelled together the first time around, but they were both different people and Jack was desperate to know if his suspicions were correct and it was possible his feelings were returned. They may both have time, but Jack was tired of waiting and judging by the faint red ting moving its way across the Doctors cheeks he didn't need to. Jack moved out of the room a lazy grin playing on his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A scream rang out along the TARDIS corridors the Doctor chasing the echoes to their source, his ship gently guiding him in the right direction which blasts of air and psychic nudges, pushing him past room after room he reached a door that lay partially open. Even without the TARDIS' insistent mental prodding he until would have known that this was Jack's room, as the door was glowing slightly having been infused with artron energy. However, he wasn't sure if it was a sign of respect from the TARDIS to a being she had had a hand in making or just Jack's impossibility affecting everything he touched. Another scream from the room reminded him that the door wasn't important; it was what was behind the door that mattered. He pushed the door open and quickly located the bed on which Jack was lying in the throes of a nightmare, it wasn't that hard to locate the bed it was one few things in the room, in fact the only things that showed it was in fact occupied and not another spare room were a bag lying in the corner, his discarded clothes over the back of a chair and his old cap on the desk. As he crossed the room, the Doctor hoped the impersonality of the room was because Jack had been too tired to programme in anything more 'homely' and not because the almost sterile room was a reflection of the Captain's own detached mental state.

He knelt at the head of the bed and started stroking Jack's sweat drenched hair, when it became clear he couldn't sooth away the nightmares away, he grabbed the man's bare shoulder, barely registering the feel of muscle under his fingertips, and started to shake it calling out to Jack's name as he did. Jack woke with a start; his eyes still slightly glazed over with sleep as he frantically looked around the room trying to find a long gone danger, the Doctor pulled him into a hug.

"It's alright" he whispered "You're safe now, I've got you." He whispered it over and over until Jack relaxed into the hug, after a moment he pulled back and looked at Jack, pain and fear were still etched in his beautiful blue eyes, but sleep was already causing the lids to start drooping again. "It's alright, just go to sleep, you're safe." Jack shook his head slightly, the Doctor sighed. "Jack you need to sleep."

"So do you." Jack mumbled sleepily. "Stay with me? Please?"

The Doctor hesitated for a second before nodding. "Okay, I'll stay." He blinked in surprise when Jack shuffled away slightly before he realised what the other man wanted him to do. He kicked off his trainers and before stripping down to his underwear, a thought suddenly occurred to him as he folded his clothes over the chair next to Jack's. "You are wearing something under there right?" Jack nodded and mumbled something that the Doctor thought was supposed to be 'boxers'. "Budge up then, I'm skinny, but I'm not that skinny." Jack moved until his face was pressed up against the wall not bothering to open his eyes, which he had closed deciding that fighting it was too much effort. The Doctor climbed in behind him, smiling slightly. "I didn't mean that much." When Jack only moved back a couple of inches, the Doctor put his hand on his side and guided him backwards until the Time Lords chest was pressed tightly against the others back, he draped one arm over his ribs and used the other to stroke his head. "Is this alright?"

"S'nice." Jack mumbled before falling asleep.

There was a body lying underneath Jack when he woke, he could feel colder than normal skin pressed against his cheek and defined abs under his hand, he blinked trying to clear the dregs of sleep from his eyes. A drum beat was pounding in his ears-four beats over and over. He froze in fear, before scrambling backwards until his spine was pressed against the wall. His breath caught in his throat as the memory of every death at the Master's hand flashed through his head. When he realised the drum beat had stopped the panic slowly subsided and a foggy memory of the previous night entered his mind, he leaned back towards the sleeping Time Lord next to him, and breathed a sigh of relief when it was the Doctor's face-made innocent by sleep-that he saw. He smiled and lightly traced a finger down his face, careful not to wake him. Jack knew the Doctor would never have allowed this when he was awake, but he still decided to take it a step further and pressed his lips to the Time Lord's forehead, he just wanted to feel the Doctor's cool skin against his lips and he knew this was probably going to be his last chance.

Having the Doctor in his bed might have been a good thing-even if it had been for purely platonic reasons-but it still produced the problem of getting out of the bed without waking him. He could climb over him, but there was always the chance he would slip and Jack didn't think the Doctor wanted to wake up to find he was pinned to the bed. The Captain rolled back towards the wall to think of a way out and found himself plummeting to the floor, his fall was broken by an air mattress before he had time to cry out. He ran his hand through his hair in confusion as he tried to work out what had happened, he was sure the wall had been at the edge of the bed only moments earlier. Soft laughter rang out in his head and Jack grin as he realised what had happened; the TARDIS, trying to be helpful, had given him a way out of his dilemma. He lifted himself off the air mattress and picked up his clothes before looking back at the Doctors sleeping form and leaving the room to find a shower.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Doctor stretched in his sleep, his arm reaching out for Jack. He snapped awake when his hand grasped at cool sheets instead of warm flesh. He launched himself out of the bed, almost landing on his face when his legs got tangled in the sheets, but he didn't care. A few sheets didn't matter, what mattered was Jack was gone. He looked around the room hoping for any small clue as to where the Captain had gone he caught sight of the chair and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Jack's clothes had also gone, that meant he had left the room willingly. The Doctor couldn't help thinking that just because Jack had left the room willingly it didn't mean that something hadn't happened to him afterwards.

"Jack?" He called out trying (and failing) to keep the searing panic he was feeling from entering his voice. There was no response other than an echo of Jack's name ringing through the corridors. He pulled his trousers on and pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket, but didn't bother with a shirt or shoes when he ran out of the room. He projected thoughts to the TARDIS begging her to get him to Jack before something bad happened. Every step onto the hard floors sent a jolt of pain up his legs and into his knees, his muscles protested at being used for such strenuous activity after a year of almost no movement and the logical part of his mind was screaming at him that Jack was fine, that nothing dangerous could get on the TARDIS. The rest of his mind didn't care though, it didn't care about the pain in his legs, it didn't care about the lack of danger, it just cared that Jack was missing and something-anything-could be going wrong. It just cared about the dark void inside him that without Jack would surely grow and grow until it consumed everything that made him 'The Doctor'. He almost certain the TARDIS would have told him if something was wrong, but he had also been certain that he was the last of the Time Lords and now he finally was, but not before everyone he loved had been stripped bare.

A door appeared in front of the Doctor and he suddenly realised he had been running in a straight line the whole time. He crashed through the door, before skidding to a halt when he saw Jack stood in front of a stove cooking eggs seemingly oblivious to the man standing behind him. The Doctor blinked in surprise at the display of domesticity coming from an immortal man wearing world war two RAF uniform. He yelped slightly when the door swung back and struck his hip. Jack turned at the sound, a bright grin plaster on his face.

"Doctor! I'm making eggs, well you can probably already tell that, but I'm making them to say thanks." He started to feel a bit nervous when the Doctor simply stood staring at him. "You know, for last night, you...well you didn't have to stay and it must have gone against every instinct you have and it was nice of you, more than nice and well, I just wanted to say thanks. And eggs." The Captain knew he was rambling and it didn't really make that much sense, but he was feeling nervous under the Doctor's continuous stare. He fell silent and looked at the other man, Jack frowned slightly when he noticed the Time Lord was standing there in just his trousers and his hand was clenched tightly around his sonic screwdriver.

Jack didn't know how he could have possibly missed the fact that the Doctor was stood in front of him shirtless, he didn't know if it was a quirk of this regenerations personality, but he did know that his previous incarnation hadn't taken to wondering around the TARDIS half-naked with the sonic screwdriver. Half-naked he could have understood-and probably would have tried to take advantage of-but the sonic was a sign of danger or trouble of some kind and as far as he was aware there was nothing mechanically wrong with the TARDIS, mentally however was a different story. He turned and put the pan down, before stepping towards the Doctor. "Are you okay Doc?" No response. "It's just you're not wearing many clothes-not that I'm complaining, but you don't have any shoes on and that can't be comfortable, and is that blood?"

That roused the Doctor; he looked down at his feet and the red footprints behind him then back up at Jack. "Yeah, I think so." He shook his head when Jack went to pull a chair out. "I don't need to sit down; I'm fine, superior Time Lord healing abilities probably shouldn't run down the hallways though." He attempted a grin but it came out looking more like a grimace and did nothing to quell the worry that was building in Jack, who wasn't even attempting to mask the emotions he was feeling.

The Captain decided not to push the Doctor into sitting down, he knew it would probably make him more determine to stand. However, he did want to know what could have possessed the Doctor into running bare foot on metal mesh, it couldn't have been comfortable and he must have noticed his feet were bleeding and yet he had carried on. "Why were you running?"

"Exercise?" Jack raised his eyebrow and the Doctor sighed, his face falling as he did so. "I woke up and I know it's stupid, but you weren't there and I panicked. I know nothing can get in the TARDIS, I know it's impossible, but it should have been impossible for there to another Time Lord. I just thought you were…I thought something…" His voice broke and a single tear fell from his soft brown eyes. Jack grabbed the back of the other man's neck and pulled him forward so the Doctor was sobbing into his chest. Jack brushed his thumb up and down the back of Doctor's neck, his other hand pressed firmly against his bare back, as the Doctor wrapped his arms around the immortal and they collapsed to the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Doctor had stopped crying, but he still lay curled up to Jack, his shoulders heaving with silent sobs. His head was resting in the crook of Jack's neck and his fists were bunched into the Captains shirt, clinging desperately to him like a child. His tears had stained the shirt dark and it clung tightly to Jack's skin, mixing the scent his tears with the oils in the immortal's skin. The smell should have been sickening-Time Lord mixed with a fixed point-his instincts should have been screaming the wrongness louder than ever before, but instead he found himself pushing his nose into Jack's shirt trying to catch more of the intoxicating scent. Before he had thought he had learned to tolerate the burn of time standing still, but now he understood the truth, he didn't tolerate it-he liked it. He liked that it was a constant, ever present reminder that Jack was here, that Jack was alive and he would always be able to find him.

Jack softened his grip on the Doctor as he slowly pulled away. The Time Lord looked up at him, his normally beautiful eyes, were blood shot and puffy, shining tracks ran down his face from the tears. Jack had never wanted to protect anyone more in his life. He smiled at his best friend as the Doctor looked up at him through his eyelashes. His lip wavered slightly as he spoke.

"Jack? Do you trust me?" The Captain nodded. "Will you let me do something?" The Captain nodded again and was rewarded with a weak smile from the Doctor. The Time Lord reached one of his hands up to cup Jack's cheek then the other, he could feel Jack's pulse racing under his fingertips as he dragged his fingertips up to the other man's temples. When his hands reached their resting place Jack flinched away from the contact a strangled whimper echoing through his throat, as memories of the same contact from another Time Lord for very different reasons flooded him mind, consciously he knew that the man on his lap would never hurt him like that, but subconsciously he couldn't separate the pain from the action. "I-I-I'm sorry." The Doctor stammered, quickly pulling his hands back and trying to slip off Jack's lap. "I didn't think, I should have thought, I'm sorry." Jack smiled pushing the instinctive fear away and pulling the Doctor back onto his lap.

"Don't be sorry. I trust you, do it Doc, whatever it is that you need to do, do it." He pulled the Time Lord's hands back up to his contact points and pushed out with his mind, brushing it against the Doctors initiating the contact. The Doctor pushed back, slowly moving through the barriers that Jack dropped for him until he was deep inside Jack's mind. He gasped at the pain in his friend's mind, it was a storm of pain, anger, hatred and guilt, and it pressed down on him slowly chocking the air out of his lungs. The emotions battering him were so intense it took him longer than it should have to remember that in this mindscape he didn't need to breathe, but once this fact managed to register in his conscious thought the storm stopped pressing down him and he had time to realise that the maelstrom wasn't aimed at him, it was aimed at the Master. He forced himself to ignore the pain and continue on his journey through Jack's mind, it wasn't long before he reached his first closed door and had to find a new route after that there seemed to be closed door after closed door. Jack's mind was quite literally a maze of closed doors but the Doctor got the sense that it wasn't that Jack didn't trust him to look at the memories more that he was ashamed of them and given his age the Doctor wasn't surprised, no human was designed to live that long, the fact Jack's mind was intact was something of a miracle.

It took time but eventually the Doctor found the part of the Captain's mind that he had been looking for, he gentle brushed against it then withdrew completely from Jack's mind. He gasped as his mind reached his own body and took a moment for his eyes to comeback into focus, when they did he found himself looking at Jack's tear stained face, eyes that were normally bright blue were rimmed with red.

"I'm sorry." Jack's voice wavered slightly, but the Doctor just stared at him confusion and worry swirling in his irises. "I tried to hide it, I tried not to hate him, I know you love him and I tried to forgive him, but I can't. I'm not like you. I'm not that strong. If he'd just hurt me…maybe, but he didn't, it wasn't just me. He hurt you, and Tish and Francine and Clive and my team, he hurt everyone on earth and what he did to the TARDIS was just sick. I can't forgive him for that. I tried Doctor, and I'm so sorry but I can't." The Doctor lifted his hand to Jack's cheek and softly brushed away the falling tears with his thumb, before cupping his chin and tilting his head so he had no choice but to look into the Time Lord's eyes.

"You don't have to forgive him and you definitely don't have to be sorry about it. I'm not forgiving him because I'm strong, it's because no matter how much he changed I couldn't help seeing him as the ten year old who was my best and only friend and saved me more times than I can count. I forgive Koschei, but I never forgive The Master." He gently stroked Jack's hair for a moment, then realised he had never told him what he was doing inside his mind; Jack had just let him in no questions asked. "I linked us. I can tell if you're in danger now, you can call me, just think my name loudly."

Jack nodded, then moved his hand up to swipe his face clean of tears. "Tell me about him. Tell me about Koschei." The Doctor pushed his hand through his hair and sighed.

"I met him on my first day at the Academy-it was a boarding school for young Gallifreyians who were going to become Time Lords-I was eight and he was ten. He was the single most beautiful person I had ever met and I just couldn't keep my eyes off him…"


	6. Chapter 6

AN: The next chapter is going to take a while cos my laptop has decided to die and take all my files with it, so I'm having to use my dad's laptop and can only upload what I can write in an hour :S. Sorry, but I'll try my best to get a memory stick or something so I can save files.

Chapter 6

The suns were burning bright in the sky setting a pale orange glow over his skin as he lay in the fields, crimson blades tickling his skin as they brushed against him. He moved his hand out from under his head and reached out to the man lying next to him, linking their fingers together. He couldn't remember ever being as happy as his was in this moment, but something felt wrong, like a shadow hovering over everything. Then, he feels it. He pulled his hand away holding it over his head, it was coated in a substance the same colour as the grass he lay in and his stomach lurched as a drop fell off his face and splashed across his cheek. He slowly sat up praying to every god he knew that it wasn't true that he was wrong, but as he turned his head towards the man he saw the blood-so very much blood-and the knife sticking out of Jack's stomach. Laughter rang out, wild, maniacal laughter. The Master stood over him, flames' flickering in his eyes, then it was burning, it was all burning.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and he cast out his mind, searching feverishly for Jack. Calm fell over him when he felt the Captain alive and well, he rubbed at his eyes then stretched his arms over his head trying to chase away the remaining remnants of his nightmare, just in time to see Jack leaning in the doorway holding a cup of tea. The Doctor could feel Jack's eyes raking over his body and felt a blush warming his cheeks. Jack grinned and handed the cup over; the Doctor murmured 'thanks' and went to take a sip.

"Doc, you know when I first came on the TARDIS and you told me that nothing ever went off in the fridge?" The Doctor nodded as he drank, and then screwed up his face as he let it spillback out of his mouth. He put the cup on the side table and rushed into the bathroom, sticking his tongue under the tap to wash away the bitter taste that had been left behind. Jack followed and stood in the doorway barely concealing a smirk at the face his friend was pulling. "I thought the milk might be off, it was kind of lumpy, but I figured it couldn't be since nothing ever goes off in the TARDIS fridge."

"Funny. It must have broken, it won't be because of...him, or we would have noticed earlier." He picked up a towel and dried his face, before pushing past Jack to get his clothes, Jack might not have a problem with walking around the TARDIS is just his boxers, but it made him feel uncomfortable even if it was just Jack around. In fact, the only time he'd been in just his boxers outside his room-in this body-had been an emergency and he had been alone in the TARDIS. He picked up his trousers and started to pull them up, when he realised Jack was standing behind him.

"You don't have to get dressed on my account; you look good without them." Jack said with a smile playing on his lips and a predatory glint in his blue eyes as he wrapped an arm around The Doctor's waist pulling him backwards so that they were pressed skin to skin.

"Jack…" The Doctor said trying to sound as stern as he could whilst he pulled away. His face flushed with a deep red heat. Jack laughed softly and loosened his grip so that he could step around the other man making sure that their body brushed against each other as much as possible, he stopped in front of The Doctor and raised his hand to drag his fingertips across his cheekbone.

"You're cute when you blush." The Doctor frowned and pushed Jack's hand away and pulled a shirt on. They had been sharing a bed for almost a week, (or what could be considered a week in a place that had no noticeable passage of time) and the Captain had been good so far, or as good as he ever got, when they were in bed any touching was purely platonic and outside the bed-though he walked around in just his boxers-he rarely went past mild flirting. The sudden change was hard to take in and The Doctor could feel his hearts speed up at the closeness.

"I'm not blushing." He moved away from Jack and searched through the bed side table, Jack grinned at the Time Lord's discomfort. He moved behind him once again and placed his hand on The Doctor's shoulder, who turned around instantly, he held up the sonic screwdriver and after a momentary look of confusion as to where it could have been hidden the glint in Jack's eyes made him decided it was best not to ask and took it without a word.

"And you're even cuter when you pout." The Doctor dodged another attempt by Jack to stroke his fingers along his face and moved towards the door, the Captain just laughed again.

"I'm not pouting! Now there's a fridge that needs fixing, so put some clothes on." He called over his shoulder and quickly moved away so that Jack couldn't see him when he paused slightly and took in a deep breath to calm himself before he started on his journey towards the kitchen. There was something about Jack that sent his head spinning-and he knew it was no longer the immortality as though he could still sense it was now just another thing he expected as ordinary as seeing golden ribbons of timelines flowing through the air. It was just the pheromones, he thought to himself, 51st century pheromones had an effect on most species Time Lords weren't an exception. He felt the rubble of the TARDIS' laughter in his mind and sighed. Jack's voice echoed down the corridor:

"Whatever you say Doc!" He took another deep breath and walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I have my laptop back! XD Unfortunately I have caught up to where I finished writing and I also have school again and my schedule is crazy (only 2 free periods which I'm giving up to teach small children rugby and then extra stuff after school and revision for retakes) so I'm not going to be able to write as often :'(

Chapter 7

He pushed his hand through his hair making it stick up at every angle known to man, causing it to look even wilder than usual, and groaned. "Come on love, I know you did it on purpose, tell me why." He crooned as he stroked the wall, a quick inspection had shown that the fridge was in perfect working order, but everything inside it was either rotten or melted. Which meant it was sabotage and there were only two beings left in the universe that could sabotage his TARDIS and he knew it hadn't been him so it must have been her. He suddenly felt sick as a thought stabbed through his mind like a red hot poker. "Is something else broken? Have we missed something?"

A warm breeze fluttered across the back of his neck as the TARDIS reassured him that she was alright, but it did little to sooth his mind and conscience. He leant his forehead against her wall and sighed softly. If there was something wrong with her he would never have been able to forgive himself, he should never have allowed the Master to touch her let alone mutilate her in the way he had. A sharp blast of cold air on his neck pulled him from his thoughts as a shiver travelled down his spine.

"Considering how smart you are, you can be incredibly stupid sometimes." The Doctor turned around at the sound of Jack's voice, pain and hatred clearly visible in his emotive, brown eyes. For a second Jack's chest tightened, then he steeled himself against the waves of emotion flowing from his friend and glared back, letting the Doctor know that he wouldn't accept his self-pity in any form. The sharp blast of icy air that hit the back of his neck showed the TARDIS's agreement.

"I don't know what's wrong, Jack. I don't know what to do." The Captain sighed and pulled the other man into a hug; he would never understand how somebody could be over nine hundred years old and still manage to look like a scared little kid. The Doctor's head quickly buried itself in Jack's shirt, his arms latching behind him and Jack doubted he could remove him even if he wanted to, so instead he stroked his fingers through the Time Lord's hair.

"You do what you do best, you think it through. What happens when the fridge stops working?" He half expected the Doctor to pull away and glare at him, but whilst his grip did loosen slightly he still clung to Jack. His voice was muffled against Jack's shirt when he answered, so Jack moved his hands down and pushed the Doctor's shoulders back slightly so he could look him in the eye and more importantly, understand what he was saying. "What?"

"The food goes off." The Doctor pulled his arms tighter around Jack, pressing them chest to chest. Jack ran a hand up his friend's neck, gently cupping his chin and brushing his thumb across the older man's cheek, in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture. A small smile played across his lips when the Doctor pressed his face into his palm.

"And what do we do when food goes off?" A small crinkle appeared between the Doctor's eyebrows as he thought about it.

"Throw it away." He said it with a small nod of his head and Jack had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing at how young and incredibly sweet the Doctor looked at that moment.

"And?"

"Get new food?"

"Yes and where do we get new food from?"

"Shops?" A small, sheepish grin spread across the Doctor's face as he started to relax, the tension was almost visible as it fled his muscles. He would never admit it, but he quite liked this game, and the way Jack was taking charge. Jack chuckled as he looked at the smile on his friend's face, it felt good seeing him look truly happy for the first time in over a year, actually, when he thought about it, this was the first time he'd seen the Doctor look happy in nearly two hundred years.

"Okay, now you're doing this deliberately." The Doctor screwed his face up in confusion, racking his brains for the right answer; he wasn't any good at domestic stuff he normally left that to his companions, they would let him know when they needed something and he'd set the co-ordinates.

"I don't know…" Realisation sparked in his mind and his face lit up for a second before he full processed it and all colour drained from his face. "Londo… Oh… Earth. She wants us to go back to Earth."

A wave of nausea hit The Doctor as he stepped out the TARDIS doors, causing his whole body to tense. People rushed past him, somehow avoiding colliding into him and all he could think was that they couldn't remember, the pain and tragedy, the pure unadulterated horror of what had been 'The year that never was' for them it had never happened, but it had happened, he remembered it every sickening detail; the chorus of screams as the toclafane descended, the indiscriminate murder of men, women and children as the future of mankind took it's childish delight in cutting at the roots of their ancestry. The blood that stained the streets and his mind, that he could still see now running towards the drains, staining his vision, staining his hands. He whimpered as he raised his hands to his face crimson droplets beaded and fell off his palms, crashing to the ground each with its own deafening explosion, as the noise of the high street faded away.

He could hear Jack calling his name, but the sound was hollow and fading. He could feel bile rising in his throat as he crashed to his knees, barely registering the jolt of pain. People were staring; he could feel the weight of their eyes crushing down on him, suffocating him. Suddenly a hand crashed down on his shoulder and a face appeared in front of his eyes, it took him a moment but he managed to get his eyes to focus enough to recognise Jack and tried to smile, tried to reassure him, but it was all too much and he felt his body sway under the Captain's grip.

He fell forward, and then everything went black.


	8. Author's note

AN: I'm_ so_ sorry about the huge, unannounced hiatus, but I've done my maths A-level now (*happy dance* I got an A* XD) and I dropped epq and rugby was a bit of a flop, so I only have 4 A-levels left now so I have a lot more free time so I should be able write more often and I've got a friend who's going to kick me in the ass every time I let the ball drop. I'm going to get the next chapter up by the end of the week (preferable before, I'm aiming for Wednesday) and now that I've told you all that I can't procrastinate.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The light in the infirmary immediately dimmed as The Doctor opened his eyes and Jack was by his side clinging to his hand before the groan had time to leave his lips. He felt fingers run across his forehead pushing sweat drenched hair to the side, and turned his side to look Jack in the eye, a weak smile stretching across his face.

"Hey." The word sounded gruff and cracked halfway through, but relief still flooded through the captain as he looked down. He smiled back, still brushing his fingers through soft, brown hair.

"Hey. What happened back there? One moment you were fine then you just…collapsed." Jack tried to swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat as he remembered what had happened back on Earth. He had never heard of Time Lords fainting before, not even after everything that had happened over ithat/i year, he'd just assumed like many things they'd just evolved past it, that it just wasn't possible.

"It was… Well… It's hard to explain. There's no word for it in English, or most languages actually. Very few species, even the time sensitive ones, can sense it and even with the ones that can it's so rare that they might not even know they can sense it because they never come across it and if you never come across something how can you know that you can sense it? And I'm rambling again aren't I? Right… Yeah… So, what 'it' is, is a ghost, well I say ghost but it's not a ghost really, not in the normal Halloween-sheet-with-eyes-cut-out ghost way, because they don't exist, well they do, but they're not called ghosts and they actually take great offense if you suggest they are." Jack raised his eyebrow in amusement and bit his lip to stop a chuckle escaping. The Doctor glanced away in embarrassment and rubbed at the back of his neck before clearing his throat. "Anyway, what I meant is because of the…er…time reversal, there are these sort of ghosts or shadows, shadows might be a better word. Though it is more like a hallucination than a shadow because there's colour, but shadows can have colour too can't they? Sometimes."

"Doctor? I was a Time Agent, I worked for Torchwood for over a century and I have travelled with you before. You don't need to simplify it for me."

"The time reversal caused a temporal distortion bending time back on itself resulting in a projection of the 'lost' energies-from before-onto psychic-assimilating matter available in the atmosphere perceivable only by species highly susceptible to changes in time." Jack paused and then nodded his head slowly in understanding.

"So you could see everything that happened then and everything that was happening now at the same time?" He clarified, the Doctor nodded with a small smile on his lips and he couldn't help the pride that shone out of him when Jack managed to follow his 'complex' explanation. He'd forgotten how much Jack could understand when they had travelled together and it seemed that despite being stuck in the 20th century his knowledge had only grown. He wondered if anyone had ever looked at Jack the way his companions had looked at him when he started rambling or if they just thought he was crazy, the way so many species did when presented with something beyond their comprehension. He wondered briefly if anyone had ever thought he was a demon or a witch, if the captain's intelligence had been the cause of any of his deaths. Anger flashed through him causing his whole body to tense.

Jack's fingers started brushing through his hair again and the Doctor relaxed into the touch, "The stimulus was too much and my body shut down."

"Is this going to happen everywhere during that year or just Earth?"

"Just Earth. Earth is young enough in the 21st century that its development doesn't really have any effect on anywhere else." The Captain nodded.

"So we just stay away from Earth in 2008/9 and everything will be alright?"

"Yes, well as alright as things ever are when you travel through space-time." The Doctor grinned up at Jack, then his eyes went wide and he glanced to either side of the bed as if he was only just registering where he was. He pushed himself up but before he could get into a sitting position Jack grabbed his shoulder and pinned him to the bed.

"No."

"But…"

"No."

"Jack."

"No." The Time Lord sighed at his friend's behaviour.

"Jack," He paused to see if he would get interrupted and when he got a grunt in response the corners of his mouth twitched up and he continued. "I'm fine. No, really. It was a momentary shock. Like when you stand up too fast and you get all dizzy and blurry and pass out, just a little bit, okay, a lot worse."

The Captain sighed and released his grip, letting the other man get up but still hovered almost onto of him in case the 'dizziness' came back. The Doctor grinned at his friend and patted his arm when he stood up without complications. He pulled out of Jacks grip and walked towards the door, only stopping when he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He turned around so that he could get a proper look, and then glanced down at his feet.

"I'm in a hospital robe." He pulled at the thin material and scrunched up his face in disgust; he looked hesitant then pulled at the collar and peeked down it, his eyes widened comically and he dropped the material and quickly lowered his hands to cover his crotch.

"Yeah" Jack snorted, amused that it had taken the supposed genius so long to realise both that he was barefoot and that his suit had been replaced with a thin gown which had to be at least a quarter of the weight.

"Jack… Who took off my clothes?"

"The TARDIS." He winced slightly as he said it, even though it was the truth Jack knew how it sounded, all he could do was hope that The Doctor knew more about how the TARDIS's med bay than he had taught Jack the first time around.

"The spaceship took my clothes off."

"The massively complicated, space-time travelling, sentient, psychic spaceship that not even you know everything about took off your clothes."

"Right." The Doctor wasn't sure whether to believe him or not, whilst it was hard to believe the TARDIS has taken his clothes off, Jack did have a point that he had no idea of half the things she could do. Besides Jack was many things (and sex pest was idefinitely/i on that list), but it was unlikely that he would intrude on somebodies privacy like that and then blatantly lie. "Okay. Can you wait outside or in the kitchen or something?"

Jack released a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding, "Yeah, sure Doc. I'll wait for you in the kitchen with a cup of tea."

"So we wait a few more days, until you're feeling better then we try again, just somewhere that's not Earth." Jack said as he slid a cup of tea across the table to The Doctor, who smiled in thanks and cupped his hands around the mug to leech some of the warmth.

"I'm fine Jack, but yeah, that's a good plan." He brought the mug to his mouth and drank a mouthful, almost instantly he spat it out and ran to the sink turning the tap on and running the water over his tongue, "What did you put in that?"

"All the milk was off, so I used some I found in the cupboard, 'Borjan husk milk'. It smelt fine." The initial small flash of worry had quickly been replaced with amusement and the Captain was forced to cover his mouth to try and muffle his laughter as The Doctor scrunched up his face disgust, water running down his chin and slowly dripping onto his shirt collar.

"No, just no, don't use that, it's, well I'm not entirely sure what it is, to be honest I don't want to know what it is, but it's definitely inot/i milk. You fry it, and sprinkle flavoured powders on it like burkleberry or banana or green and roll it up and use it as a straw to drink water, it flavours the water, like those straws you can get with the little balls in and you drink milk and it tastes like milkshake. I'll show you sometime, but not with that pack. The last time I remember buying any I was still in my second regeneration…" He searched through the cupboards until he found the package and tentatively grabbed it holding it out in front of him as if it contained Uranium instead of 'milk', which didn't help with Jack's giggling fit, "We might have to cut the days down to hours, I'm not entirely sure I can go that long without a cup of tea."

The Doctor turned around and finally caught sight of his friend bend double over the table, red faced and shaking with silent laughter. He pouted and stuck his tongue out, causing Jack to snort and renew his laugher. When he had managed to calm down, The Doctor walked over to Jack and grabbed his sleeve tugging on it slightly to pull him to his feet, then led him backwards towards the kitchen door. "Come on, we can go to the library, there's a few books I want to show you."

He opened the door and walked through; he's only made it a few steps before he slammed into a wall, Jack quickly followed and ended up pressed against The Doctor's chest. He swallowed harshly his throat suddenly dry before stepping backwards into the door. A quick glance showed they were trapped in a box, a wooden box at that, with only one door. "What's going on Doc?"

"I don't know, the TARDIS must be manipulating the rooms again. Can you get the door open?" Jack turned around and twisted the door handle, it turned freely but there was little room to manoeuvre and he was forced to crush himself against the wall so that he could open the door enough to get out without hitting The Doctor. He stepped outside and froze. They were back on Earth, the same town, it couldn't have been that long after they left he recognised some of the people walking away. The Doctor stepped up next to him, and Jack reached out to hold his elbow, just in case. "I'm fine Jack, it's not as bad this time, I…I just, can we go back inside?"

Jack nodded and a moved his hand to the small of his back, gently ushering The Doctor back into the TARDIS, but it was still the same wooden box. They rushed out and tried again but no success, The Doctor's breathing had started to get deeper, louder, he took the key out of his pocket, his hand shaking slightly with the effort and passed it over to Jack. The key slotted in, but the door jammed, he tried again, the door was still stuck. "So much for our plan"

"It looks like the TARDIS has other ideas."


End file.
